Takeaways
- Arizona allows private gun sales.
- Arizona doesn’t have a waiting period for gun sales.
- Private sellers don’t need to run buyer background checks in Arizona.
- 18 is the minimum age to buy guns from private sellers in Arizona, with exceptions.
- Private gun sellers can turn to Cash for Arms for minimal-effort, high-return gun sales in Arizona.
Step 1: Go Over Arizona’s Gun Sale Rules
To sell guns safely in Arizona, you have to follow the local laws. We’ve simplified them into the notes below.
Arizona Allows Private Gun Sales
There’s no need to become a Federal Firearms Licensee or FFL to sell guns in Arizona.
If you’re not selling enough guns to look like a for-profit business, you’re fine without a license. Federal law only requires FFLs for people selling guns very often and in big quantities.
Arizona Doesn’t Require Gun Buyer Background Checks
Arizona has no law requiring background checks on gun buyers.
Take note that this only applies to private gun sellers. FFLs still have to do background checks on buyers because federal law requires it of them.
Arizona Doesn’t Require Waiting Periods for Gun Sales
Arizona has no law imposing waiting periods for gun sales.
This is generally the case for states that don’t mandate gun buyer background checks. So, you can sell a gun and deliver it to the buyer on the same day.
Arizona Doesn’t Require Gun Licensing or Registration
Arizona doesn’t require guns for sale to be licensed or registered. In fact, Ariz. Rev. Stat § 13-3108(B) even forbids local authorities from mandating those things.
Arizona Doesn’t Require Private Gun Sale Records
You don’t need to make a bill of sale to sell a gun privately in Arizona. The state doesn’t mandate reporting of guns or their sales.
Arizona Doesn’t Allow Added Taxes on Private Gun Sales
Arizona forbids local authorities from collecting additional fees on private gun sales. Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 44-7852 says neither the state nor any other political subdivision can do that.
Arizona Requires Gun Buyers to Be at Least 18
Arizona law has 18 as the minimum age to buy guns. There are some exceptions covered by Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-3109(A). Still, most of them are for temporary gun transfers.
This means that for private gun sellers, the minimum age for your buyers is still 18. FFLs have to follow the federal minimums, though: 18 for long gun buyers and 21 for handgun buyers.
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Arizona Doesn’t Allow Some People to Buy Guns
There are people who can’t possess (and thus, buy) guns in Arizona. If you plan to sell your gun to a private party and not a dealer, you need to know them. Here’s the list:
- Felony convicts
- Anyone on parole
- Anyone on home arrest
- Anyone on community supervision
- Adjudicated delinquents for felony crimes
- Anyone serving a term in a correctional/detention facility
- Anyone serving probation for a domestic violence conviction
- Undocumented aliens
- Non-immigrant aliens, with these exceptions:
- Foreign government officials designated by the US Department of State
- Distinguished foreign visitors designated by the US Department of State
- Those in the US for competitive gun sporting events or trade shows
- Those with valid US-issued hunting licenses or permits
- Those with waivers from the US attorney general
- Certain diplomats
- Anyone found “guilty except insane”
- Anyone found to be a danger to himself or others
- Anyone found incompetent who is not found competent later
- Anyone found persistently, acutely, or gravely disabled (mentally) under a court order
- Anyone prohibited by a protective order from buying or owning a firearm
- Fugitives from justice
- Unlawful users of or addicts to controlled substances
- Anyone discharged dishonorably by the Armed Forces
- Anyone who has renounced US citizenship
Arizona Allows Some People to Regain the Right to Buy Guns
Arizona has processes for restoring the right to own a gun. The processes apply to these people:
- Convicted felons
- Adjudicated delinquents
- People found to be a danger to themselves
- Those with a persistent, acute, or grave disability
What does this mean for you as a seller? That a buyer may be on the list of persons prohibited guns in the state yet still regain the right to buy and own a gun later.
Step 2: Discover Your Gun’s Worth
Now that you know the rules, it’s time to do some numbers. You need to find out what your gun’s worth right now.
Why? Because this tells you how to price the gun if you sell it to private parties. If you’re selling to dealers, it gives you a sense of who’s undervaluing it in their offers.
To find your gun’s value, try these steps:
- Go to GunBroker to find sold listings with similar guns and their sale prices.
- Get it appraised by an expert. We can do this for you online and for free.
- Bring it to a nearby gun shop for appraisal (but call ahead and note that some charge a fee for the service).
Step 3: Find and Sell to Your Buyers
Buyer 1: Cash for Arms
This is among your best choices if you value convenience. You can sell to Cash for Arms from home and enjoy the safety of selling to a dealer. We even cover the fees for gun shipping. Plus, we pay in 24 hours of your gun reaching our premises! Cash for Arms also offers liquidation services in Arizona if you're looking to sell a large amount of guns.
Here’s how to do it:
- Let us know about your gun through our website.
- Wait for us to reply to you with an offer.
- Accept our offer and send the gun our way with our prepaid shipping labels.
- Wait for the gun to reach us.
- Collect your payment in the method you prefer (direct deposit, Zelle, or mailed check).
Our suggestion: Err on the side of detail when telling us about your gun. The offers we send are always based on what sellers let us know. The more you tell us, the fairer our estimates are for you.
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Buyer 2: Arizona Gun Stores
These are the top choices for those who only want to sell face-to-face and to dealers. The sale prices won’t be very good, however. Gun shops will usually start their offers at just 50% of your gun’s value. Bear that in mind if the sale price matters to you.
Here’s how to sell a gun to gun shops:
- Unload your gun at home and clean it for presentation.
- Bring your unloaded gun to local gun stores for appraisal.
- Make a list of the offers until you have enough of them to compare.
- Sell the gun to the store that offers the highest sale price.
Our suggestion: You’ll have to drive to a lot of gun stores to collect a fair number of offers. To make things easier for yourself, don’t just drive blindly to the stores. Call each one in advance and offer the gun in detail. This will let you figure out which shops are even worth driving to.
Buyer 3: Arizona Pawn Shops
This is an option we only recommend if you’re entirely out of choices. In perhaps 99% of cases, you won’t be!
But if you do find that only pawn shops are interested in your gun, there are still some perks. They’ll pay you on the spot and in a face-to-face transaction, like gun stores.
The problem is that they’ll pay you even less than gun stores do. Even skilled hagglers struggle to get good sale prices out of pawn shops. If you can live with it, use our steps and tip for gun stores to sell to one!
Buyer 4: Private Parties
Private individuals are probably your best bets for very high sale prices. They need more effort than dealers, of course. Still, once you find the right buyer, it can all be worth it.
Here’s how to sell to a private party:
- Advertise your gun for sale at these places:
- Local ranges
- Local papers
- GunsArizona.com
- AZGunBuy.com
- ArizonaShooting.org
- Wait for serious offers to come in.
- Screen the buyers making the offers by doing these:
- Ask them if they can meet face-to-face for the deal.
- Ask them if they can provide a state-issued ID to prove age and residency.
- Ask them if they’d be willing to do a bill of sale. (You don’t really need to make one! Asking this just helps weed out people unlikely to pass a background check if you were ever to do one.)
- Sell the gun to the eligible buyer offering you the best price for it.
Our suggestion: Carry out the sale in as safe a location as possible to protect yourself. Some people like to use gun stores or their parking lots. Most police stations will let you carry out gun sales on the premises too. If you decide to do the sale at a police station, call ahead to let them know. There’s often a designated space for such transactions.
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Conclusion
That wraps up the basics you need to sell guns in Arizona. While it’s simple enough for the most part, consider selling to Cash for Arms if you want as little fuss as possible.
There’s no driving to multiple stores or meeting with multiple potential buyers with us. You get fast quotes, fast service, and fast payment. All of that comes with the security of selling to an FFL with a license to buy guns all over the country.
To learn more, contact us or call 904-977-5477!